


The World Apart

by halla_lavellan



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Childhood, Dalish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 16:30:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9616055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halla_lavellan/pseuds/halla_lavellan
Summary: Tales from a Dalish childhood.An exploration of how the Dalish pass on their stories and history.As the canon for Elvish is sparse at best, I have constructed many of the rules around language for my own story. Lexicon is included at the end of each chapter, as well as pictures of the characters.





	1. Dhaveira

Snow raged outside the aravel as it sailed silently through the forest.

She was three years old and wrapped in furs, tucked solidly into Ena’s lap.

“ _Mamae_ ,” she asked, reaching up to tug on one of the pale locks dangling from her mother’s forehead.

“Yes, _eirlina_.”

“Why am I called Dhaveira?”

“You were made in the coldest night of winter. Your father was lost deep in the wood – the stars were hiding from the storm and he could not find his way. He prayed to Elgar’nan to show him the path, and the winds pulled him home. He said the snow became gentle on his face in that moment. It was the snow’s kiss that brought him back to me.”

The child thought about this for a moment.

“I do not like the snow. There is rarely enough food and it is always cold.”

“Are you cold even now, little one?” she asked, smoothing the girl's silver hair back from her forehead.

“Yes,” she answered.

Ena laughed. “Always so stubborn, _da’mi_.”

 

* * *

 _Mamae_ : Archaic term for "mother"

 _Eirlina_ : Snow child

 _Dhaveira_ : Kissed by snow

 _Da'mi_ : Little blade

* * *

  **Halla Lavellan, grown.**


	2. Haletelban

It was summer and the clan was still. They had made their fair weather home in a green valley at the foot of a white mountain, aravels arranged in a loose circle at the base of the cliff.

She was four years old and sitting on the ground next to Lett as he carved a bow. A pile of newly fletched arrows lay between them and she ran her fingers along the shafts and feathers.

“ _Baba_ , why do we stop moving in the summer?”

“This we know from Mythal – children must put down roots when the sun is brightest so that they can grow strong, _emm’asha_.”

She considered this, watching two of the other young girls practice a dance while a boy sang for them, voice high and sweet.

“I like the sun. Perhaps I can be called Elgara instead.”

Lett laughed and put down the bow, then stood and lifted his daughter above his head, placing her on his shoulders. “When you are older, you may choose any name you like.”

“Did you choose your own name?”

“When I came into this world, I was called Haletelban. I was born with whitest hair and palest skin and my mother said I mewled just like a little fox cub.”

She giggled at that. “No, you were never so small as a cub.”

“Indeed I was, child. Just as you are small now, one day you will be as tall and strong as I. Perhaps even more so.”

 _What a silly idea_ , she thought. She chuckled and wrapped her arms around his head.

 

* * *

 _Baba_ : Father

 _Emm'asha_ : My girl

* * *

**Lett Lethanavir, older.**

 


	3. Siona

It was summer and the clan was still. They had made their fair weather home by a slow river, thick golden grass pressed down by the hooves of the halla.

She was five years old and standing knee deep in the river with Siona, picking the small white flowers that grew on the very edge of the water.

“Why do we gather these?” she asked, laying a bundle in the basket slung over Siona’s arm.

“These flowers grow only once each year, _da’vhenan_. They can ease toothache or earache or even the pain from childbirth. _Din’anor’tuona_ is a sacred act that we perform to care for our _vhen_.”

“How is it that you know so much, _hahren_?”

Siona leaned down. “You must not yet call me this, Dhaveira. I have lived in this world only sixteen years.”

“But you know everything. I think you know more than even _Mamae_.”

Siona laughed and put her basket down on the riverbank, then pulled the girl up onto her hip. “You are my sister’s sole child, _ma'ghestlin_ , and I love you as my own, so I will not scold you for your terrible disrespect. Your _mamae_ taught me everything I know and knows far more of flowers and herbs and the art of healing than I ever will.”

“I like flowers,” she said.

“And well you should,” Siona said, setting her back down in the river. “For you are just as pretty as the prettiest flower one could ever see.”

“I care not at all for being pretty. I wish to be tall and strong like a tree. Perhaps I can be called Adahl instead. But my _baba_ says I must be older before I can choose.”

Siona nodded and smiled, then turned back to the bed of flowers and continued her work.

“Siona, why do we choose our own names?”

“This is called _sal’melin_. We cannot know it until we know ourselves. First, we must grow.”

“When will you choose your _sal’melin_?”

“I have been blessed, _da’vhenan_ , for my birth name is my soul name.”

The child nodded. “You are _on_ and _siu_ , so I am pleased that you will keep your name.”

Siona smiled down into her niece’s dark eyes. “Perhaps in time you will discover that you have been blessed as I have, and find that your birth name is indeed your _sal’melin_ as well.”

The girl laughed at this. “I will not be cold like the snow. I will not bring our _vhen_ hunger or pain – I will be strong and fast, and I will care for our family and bring only good things. I will be as the halla.”

She turned, then, and gazed at the herd milling in the open fields beyond the aravels.

“Siona?”

“Yes, child.”

“I will now be called Halla.”

“Halla is not a name, little one.”

“Perhaps it was not, before. But now it is _ma’melin_ and I will answer to no other.”

“Your _mamae_ is right about you, _da’mi_. Always so stubborn. But if you wish to be _hallen_ , then _hallen_ you shall be.”

 

* * *

 _Da'vhenan_ : Little heart

 _Din'anor'tuona_ : The harvest, the gathering

 _Vhen_ : Clan, family

 _Hahren_ : Wise one, respected one

 _Ma'ghestlin_ : My little beast (affectionate)

 _Sal'melin_ : Soul name, true name

 _On_ : Good

 _Siu_ : Sweet

 _Ma'melin_ : My name

 _Hallen_ : Halla child

* * *

**Siona Lavellan**

 


	4. Enavuna

It was spring and the clan was moving through the wood in the early morning.

She was six years old and sitting next to Ena on the back of their aravel, both dangling their feet from the edge and watching the earth sail beneath them.

“ _Mamae_ ,” she said.

“Yes, _ma’hallen_.”

“Tell me a story?”

“What would you like to hear, _emm’asha_?”

She leaned against her mother’s side and took her thumb in one small hand. “Tell me of how I came to be in this world?”

“Very well, child,” she said. She thought for a moment, and then began to speak.

“At my birth I was called Enavuna, for I was born during a long hunger. Our _vhen_  had faced difficult days for many years, and we had borne no children for a very long while.

“I had no other little ones to play with as you do, but I always felt loved, and I was cared for by all. In these times of plenty, when we have many children, we show you how to become strong with one thing. This is why your _baba_ carved _da’bor’assanen_ for you and Rogasha, and why he teaches you to shoot. It is why Deshanna speaks to you of Andruil and the _Vir Tanadhal_. You are both quick and your eyes are sharp, and so you shall be _ghi’myelan_ for our _vhen_.

“But when I was small, I was _sa’glandival_ , and so I was taught all things. Perhaps in these days I would have been _ghi’myelan_ only, for I was quick and sharp, much like you. But I loved herbs and healing most of all.

“In my ninth year, the Keeper of my days passed on, and Deshanna came into her role when she was only seventeen, still a child in many ways. We had no other magic-wielders, and so she had no First. I sometimes heard my elders whispering that our _vhen_ 's time in this world would end within a generation.

“But fortune smiled in my tenth year. I was sitting by a small stream deep in the wood and washing our clothing when three _elvhen_ appeared from the trees. There were two small girls, very close to my age, and one young man somewhere past his twentieth year. The girls had blackest hair so tightly curled that they looked as stormclouds, and the man was stark against them, for his hair was long and the purest white my eyes had ever touched. His face was thin and pale and he had scars like spiderwebs on all of his skin that I could see.”

“Was this man _Baba_? For he too has many scars, but his white hair is very short.”

Ena kissed the girl’s head. “Yes, he was indeed the man who would one day be your _baba_ , but not for many years.

“I took the newcomers to Deshanna and the elders, for all three seemed very weak. In all my life I had known only the people of my _vhen_ and had never met another child. It was not until I was grown that we began trading with the _shemlen_ – already your world is so much bigger than mine was in those days.

“So I brought them to the Keeper as I had been taught to do, and then, because I was very shy, I hid behind my _mamae_ and listened to the man speak. His name was Haletelban and the girls were Shenuvun and Sharahnain. They had come from a _vhen_ far to the north and had been wandering for a very long time. They had not counted the passage of days, but thought it to be close to one year. The three shared the same mother, but the girls were born to a different father, a man she had met during _arlathvhen_ many years after your _baba_ ’s own father had passed.

“The two girls began to show sparks of magic when they were young, but their _vhen_ had three wielders already. And so they were cast out.

“Your _baba_ fought with their Keeper and their elders. They were only very small children, you see, and would not survive on their own. But they would not yield. And so he returned to their aravel, packed three baskets, dressed the girls in warm clothes and thick boots, took his strongest bow, and the three set out into the wood together.”

“ _Mamae_?” Halla asked. “Here there is Deshanna, Laduma, and Nydhalan. What if I show magic, or Rogasha? Will we have to leave as well?”

Ena turned and took her daughter’s face gently in her hands. “You will never be sent from me or your _baba_. You are _nehn’suledin_ and I would tear down the sky rather than let you go.”

“Rogasha too, _Mamae_?”

“Rogasha too, _da’mi_. Now, would you like to hear the rest of the story?”

Halla nodded and settled back to Ena’s side.

“So now, it seemed, we had been blessed, for Shenuvun and Sharahnain began learning _ama’etha vi_ with Deshanna, and our _vhen_ had a strong young _ghi’myelan_ to help us hunt for food and furs.

“At first the girls and I were wary of each other, but soon we became _falonen’uth_ , and I would often join them in Deshanna’s aravel while they were taught the lore and stories that all Keepers must know. It was through these lessons that I learned of our old ways, and first did hear of the path of Sylaise, the _Vir Atish’an_.

“Most wandering _elvhen_ such as us follow the _Vir Tanadhal_ , but from the time I was very young I was happiest when working at the art of healing. I loved to help birth the halla and mix poultices for the _ghi’myelan_ when they returned from the hunt with blisters and aches.

“So, with the blessing of the _vhen’hahren_ , I left the _Vir Tanadhal_ behind me and began to practice only the _Vir Atish’an_. When the sky was dark Deshanna taught me what lore she knew, and in the waking hours I worked with Soufei, our wisest and strongest healer.

“For the first time in many years, our _vhen_ did prosper. It seemed that the arrival of the girls and your _baba_ had changed our fate, for soon many of our women bore new life, and I helped to bring many of the babes into this world.”

Quiet hoofbeats approached on their right and Ena paused, watching. Siona appeared from the wood, windswept, radiant, borne by halla, long yellow hair pulling loose from her braid.

“Hail, sister,” Ena called, smiling. “Come and sit with us for a time.”

“Gladly,” Siona said, and leapt from the halla, offering him a bundle of flowers from her basket before turning to trot after the aravel. When she reached it, she grabbed the edge and vaulted up, settling herself on Halla’s other side.

“Of what do we speak, _lethallanen_?” Siona asked, tickling Halla gently on the ribs and kissing her cheek.

“ _Mamae_ is telling me the story of how I came to be,” the girl said.

“Ah, a grand tale,” she said sagely. “Please, sister, continue.”

Ena smiled at her over Halla’s head.

“Well, _ma’hallen_ , within two years of the first new life, Siona was born. In the first moment that I did hold her, I thought that I would burst with love and joy, for I had never seen anything quite so beautiful in all my fourteen years. I loved to help feed her and bathe her, and I carried her with me as often as I could. For a time it seemed as though we had the gods’ own favour, and I was wondrously happy.”

Ena paused and cleared her throat.

“When Siona was in her fifth year and I in my nineteenth, some of us began to fall ill. Soon a terrible illness swept through our _vhen_ , claiming the lives of many of our elders and some of the littlest children. Deshanna, Shenuvun, and Sharahnain worked with their magic, Soufei and I worked with our herbs, and finally it seemed as though the worst had passed. Soon only Haletelban had yet to recover, and his sisters were with him day and night.

“And then Shenuvun fell ill.

“Sharahnain found her in the morning, collapsed by the stream from which she had been fetching water. She screamed for us and Soufei and I came first, as we had been near to them, gathering fresh herbs. I remember helping to carry Shenuvun back to the aravels and her body was so light that I thought she might float away into the sky.

“Sharahnain would not leave her for even one moment. I treated Shenuvun in those rare moments that her sister slept, curled to her side, storms on her face, breathing fitfully, mortally afraid even in sleep. It was one such night that Shenuvun opened her eyes.

“We healers know that there is often a moment of clarity before the end, and I knew that she was far too ill. So I kneeled beside her and took her hand, waiting to see if she would speak.

“She reached up and pulled me closer, and whispered. “Falon’Din _ghilana_ ,” she said. “I know, _tamaris_ ,” I said. “Please, you must care for them.” I promised her that I would.

“I woke Sharahnain and she said her farewells. She was very strong in those last moments, though I could see that she was in terrible pain. She guided her sister bravely into Falon’Din’s arms.

“When Shenuvun breathed her last, Sharahnain cried out with such grief that I thought my heart would tear itself from my chest. Deshanna, running, came to us, and we held her together, for she was ripping at her hair and screaming and struggling wildly against us. Soon Soufei knelt at our side with a drink that smelled of our strongest herbs, and we tipped Sharahnain’s head back and forced it into her throat, and after a time she grew quiet and her breathing slowed, and she began to sleep, her hands balled up at her neck.

“Sharahnain did not mourn again for a long while. Instead, she became as a spirit. She sat by the fire, ate when we gave her food. But she would not speak, would not learn. I feared greatly that we would lose her also.

“But I had made _sulevanin_ , and so I cared for Haletelban through all of those darkest days. Even when he grew stronger, could not yet hunt but could sit and speak with me, I cared for him. And something began to grow between us.

“You see, we had spoken many times since he came to live with us all those years ago, but he was often away from our _vhen_ with the other _ghi’myelanen_ for days or weeks at a time. And as a follower of the _Vir Tanadhal_ , even when he was with us our work was very different. His sisters and I were _falonen’uth_ , and so I am certain that he had always thought of me as belonging to them.

“But I took to sitting with him long into the night, speaking of our childhoods and our families, sharing with each other stories that our Keepers had passed to us when we were small. We were delighted to find that the tales were very often similar – a blessing of the _arlathvhen_ , we supposed.

“I first came to know that I did love him when I found him kneeling in the earth next to Sharahnain, holding her face in his hands and speaking gently. I stopped and watched from afar and her body crumpled, then, and she began to shake with tears, and he sat and pulled her onto his lap and rocked her until at last she heaved a final sob and grew still against his chest. I came to their side and sat with them and we all three held each other and whispered a last farewell to Shenuvun, and Haletelban began to sing, then, softly, voice deep, a song that I had never heard, a prayer to Falon’Din to keep our lost ones close to his side. After a time, Sharahnain began to sing as well, voice high and steady, and I knew that for all my knowledge of herbs and magic, this was the first time that I had seen _atish’all atish’an_ , the healing of the gods.

“When their song was done and the last note did hang in the air like sunlight, we sat together, quiet, and Sharahnain spoke, and said, “I will now be called Laduma.”

Halla stirred. “Laduma is Deshanna’s First,” she said.

“Yes, _emm’asha_. She was then, and she is still. Magic is rare in our _vhen_. We are very fortunate that she did pass it to her daughter. Nydhalan will be Keeper one day, when us old ones have returned to dust and earth and this world belongs to you.

“So now I knew that I did love Haletelban, but I spoke no word of this to him. I was still very young, you see, and I felt certain that he would laugh me from the aravel if I dared to speak it aloud.

“Until, finally, on the last night before he was to return to the hunt, we sat beneath the stars and he asked when I would choose my _sal’melin_. He was always so fascinated with them, you see, as it was not a tradition of the _vhen_ into which he was born. I told him that I would soon be called Ena, for my greatest wish in this life was to teach the _Vir Atish’an_ back to the _elvhen_. “That is already almost your name, Enavuna,” he said, and I told him that I believed Sylaise to have fated me so. “If you will choose from within your own name, perhaps I should do so as well. Haletelban has always felt far too long for me. Perhaps I can be called Lett instead.”

“Lett has no meaning, _lethallin_ ,” I said, and he told me, “I do not need my name to give meaning, for from the moment I first did join your _vhen_ , I have felt as though this is where I am meant to be.” He paused for a moment, then, and cleared his throat, and I felt as though my head were spinning along with the stars. “You speak much more beautifully than I do, Ena,” and my soul name sounded so sweet on his lips that I felt a rush of bravery and kissed him then and there, and I felt as though my whole life had led me to that moment of madness, _ma’diana_ beneath the night sky.

“We were bonded by year’s end, Laduma and Deshanna performing the old rites and asking for the gods’ blessing. But it was many years still before you came to us, _sulahn’era_.

“At last we do come to the night that I once told you of many years ago, _ma’hallen_ , when your _baba_ was lost in the wood and could not find his way, and he knelt beneath a tree and prayed to Elgar’nan to carry him home to me.

“It was the longest night of winter but I did stay in wakefulness, not huddled with the rest of our _vhen_ under furs in the aravels, but instead keeping my vigil in a place sheltered mostly from the wind, burning a fire to cast away the worst of the cold. And I did wait for your _baba_ to return to me, and while waiting I prayed to every god in the skies above. And do you know something, little one? I felt the moment that Elgar’nan answered our calls, for the wind grew gentle and I felt deep in my chest a pull towards the east. I turned towards it and waited, peacefully, knowing he was safe, and soon I did see him come through the trees, and I ran to him and we held each other in the snow, and we thanked the gods and felt them answer. And with their blessing on our skin, the first part of you came into the world, _eirlina_ , and I felt you grow inside of me with a reverence that I had never thought possible.”

Ena fell quiet, her tale complete, and she and Siona both wrapped their arms around Halla and around each other, and the three sat together in silence and peace, words still hanging in the green and golden air.

 

* * *

_Ma'hallen_ : My little halla

 _Emm'asha_ : My girl

Enavuna: Sunrise, break of day - used as a wish or prayer

 _Vhen_ : Clan, family

 _Da'bor'assanen_ : Little bows (lit. Little arrow throwers)

 _Vir Tanadhal_ : The Way of Three Trees - the spiritual path that most Dalish follow, especially hunters

 _Ghi'myelan_ : Hunter

 _Sa'glandival_ : Last hope

 _Shemlen_ : Humans (lit. Quick children)

 _Arlathvhen_ : The meeting of all Dalish clans, occurs once per decade

 _Nehn'suledin_ : Eternal joy

 _Da'mi_ : Little blade

 _Ama'etha vi:_ Gentle magic, protection magic

 _Falonen'uth_ : Best friends, sisters in spirit

 _Vir Atish'an_ : The Way of Peace - the spiritual path that some Dalish follow, especially healers

 _Vhen'hahren_ : Elders, wise ones of the clan

 _Lethallanen_ : Kin (plural) - term of familiarity

Falon'Din  _ghilana_ : Falon'Din has come to guide me

 _Tamaris_ : Kindred heart

 _Sulevanin_ : Sacred vow

 _Ghi'myelanen_ : Hunters

 _Atish'all atish'an_ : Divine journey to peace

Laduma: Mournful healing

 _Sal'melin_ : Soul name

Ena: New beginning, new life

 _Lethallin_ : Kin (masculine)

 _Ma'diana_ : End of my journey (lit. My conclusion)

 _Sulahn'era_ : Dream song

 _Eirlina_ : Snow child

* * *

**Ena Lavellan**

 

 


End file.
